


Where Alpine is the real hero...

by HogwartsToAlexandria



Series: Marie Ships it All Shorts 2019 [25]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Christmas Fluff, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, F/M, Family Fluff, First Meetings, Found Family, Marvel Reverse Big Bang Secret Santa, Matchmaker Alpine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2019-12-24
Packaged: 2021-02-26 23:01:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,227
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21647083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HogwartsToAlexandria/pseuds/HogwartsToAlexandria
Summary: Alexei Barnes has one, only one favorite story on this earth, that of his parents' first meeting and subsequent love story. It's the tale he wants to hear every night, the one he falls asleep to still mouthing the words in time with his Dad, or his Mom - when she begrudgingly accepts to indulge him.Fluff Bingo Fill: Bedtime Story
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Natasha Romanov, Pepper Potts/James "Rhodey" Rhodes/Tony Stark, Steve Rogers/Sam Wilson
Series: Marie Ships it All Shorts 2019 [25]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1649578
Comments: 1
Kudos: 16
Collections: SVBB & MRBB Secret Santa 2019





	Where Alpine is the real hero...

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Huntress79](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Huntress79/gifts).



> A Gift, a Christmas Gift for Huntress79 in the form of Buckynat/Winterwidow family fluff of the most concentrated sugar doses kind :) I hope you'll enjoy the read! 
> 
> Thank you to our Marvel Reverse Big Bang for setting this up and as usual, thank you to the fantastic Betheflame for beta-ing ❤

"Mom, Mom, Mom!" 

Natasha rubbed her temples just  _ hearing _ the small storm that running towards her in the hallway. She burrowed further into the couch cushions as Alexei turned around the corner and kept running till he could dive on the L-shape she was spread on. She made as if to hide behind her magazine, but eventually couldn't stop herself from laughing at the faces her son was pulling so she'd listen to him. 

"I wanna do somethin' for Daddy for Christmas, will you help me?" Her six-year old took on a solemn stance even as he knelt between her legs in Iron Man pyjamas and a head full of bath-wet hair. 

She sat up straighter.

"What are you thinking of, my heart?" 

Alexei crossed his arms over his chest, his smile turning shy like it did when he was feeling a little too many things at once and didn't know how to sort it out.

"I want to make a book," he started, and rushed to keep going as Natasha frowned in interest. "With my bedtime story in it," he finished proudly. 

Natasha's eyes did not mist over easily, and God knew she'd rolled her eyes enough times about this for her feelings about it to have become very clear over the years since her son had been born, but nothing did it like being reminded how her son felt about her love story. No other story could both catch Alexei's attention and soothe his overactive mind like that of how his parents met, and fell in love. And in the rare moments when she allowed herself to show exactly what was going through her mind, she could be honest and say it would always be her favorite story as well. No way around it. 

She nodded first, a quick little thing that Alexei was so used to he was already jumping on the couch before she was done. 

"That's AWESOME! I can make drawings and you can check my spelling and it will be so pretty, Mommy, so pretty. Do you think Daddy will like it? I think he will  _ love _ it. And I know it by heart so I won't forget any bits. Do you like my idea?" Alexi’s mouth worked as fast as his brain. 

Natasha chuckled again and grabbed her son by the waist before he could wiggle off the couch. "Yes, baby, it's a great idea. We'll get started tomorrow, ok? Daddy will be home soon so we can't risk ruining the surprise, uh?" 

"Cuddle pile then?" 

Alexei watched his mom with his wide blue eyes sparkling with joy and a softness that Natasha felt deep in her bones. She nodded again and smiled as the boy went ahead and just laid on top of her, squeezing her waist with his frail arms and resting his head on her collarbone. 

Nobody but Bucky had ever told her that motherhood would be like this, this inextinguishable source of love, pure, and undemanding. And even he, with his dreams of parenthood and romantic soul, came up short.

* * *

_ WhatsApp chat: _

_ #Home _

_ Natlove: You have been prohibited entry to the house for the next three hours. Go get a drink at the Wilsons.  _

_ Sap: Can I ask whyyyy?  _

_ Natlove: Obviously not. Just get lost, babe. And bring me back some of Steve's gingerbread, I need some. And Alpine needs his special food. _

_ Natlove: And stop it with the whining, it's not even cute. _

_ Sap: Liar. You like it. But sure thing, I'll get his lordship's food and ask Steve for your sweet tooth. Kiss my baby boy for me? _

_ Natlove: Already on that.  _

_ Sap: see ya in 3. Love you _

_ Natlove: sap.  _

_ … _

_ Natlove: love you too.  _

* * *

Christmas was a big thing in the Barnes household. Because it was Bucky's favorite holiday, and therefore had become Alexei's, and if Natasha couldn't refuse either of them anything separately, she stood no chance when they were on the same page. 

Her only victory of the year was having to not host absolutely everyone they knew and their mothers. Just Sam, Steve and their newborn daughter, as well as Tony, Jim, Pepper and Peter. Basically their closest friends and the people who most resembled a family Natasha had ever had. 

The fact that Peter was only a year older than Alexei, and the two boys were luckily the same kind of sweet and overly excitable kid, was a godsend for all adults involved, especially this time of year where everyone with a heart and half a mind could easily forgive their buzzing emotion, however loud it got. Alpine didn't feel quite as indulgent though, and spent most of the night in the boy's bedroom.

The fact that their friends were nice enough - adamant, in fact - to participate in the making of the numerous courses that made out the meal was another way Natasha was happy on this 24th of December. Watching her baby boy give sideways glances to the tree in the middle of the living-room throughout the night, likely checking his gift for Dad hadn't moved an inch, made her grin that much harder. She only winked at Bucky when he caught up with her mood and tilted his head in question. He laughed and let it go but she could tell he was dying to know what she and Lex had been keeping from him from almost two weeks now - secrets weren't a common occurrence in their house.

He didn't have to wait all that long, though. Dinner went smoothly and tradition obliged that gifts were exchanged between dinner and dessert. Everybody gathered on the couches behind the dinner table and exchanged their gifts -  _ this is from the Stark Santa, and this from the Wilson one, and, and, and _ … 

The boys couldn't stop smiling, they tore through the wrapping paper as their much more moderate parents exchanged embraces and gentle thanks - except Bucky, who was still a child when it came to presents and exuberantly tore through the paper. But all the while, even as he enjoyed and practically shouted in happiness with everything he unveiled, Alexei's knee bounced in anticipation. When things quieted down a bit, just this once, Natasha decided they could break the rule about immediate family gifts and not wait till morning or her son wouldn't catch a wink for sure: she beckoned him closer, sliding an arm around his shoulders to whisper in his ear. 

"You can give it to him now, go ahead." 

Bucky was once again frowning, but Natasha simply held his gaze until Alexei walked back to them and shyly deposited his gift - that he had wrapped himself like the big boy he was, thank you very much - on his father's lap. 

"For you," he said as he shuffled his feet and Natasha tried to hide her emotion with a well-placed cough, which, judging by Pepper's face and Jim's smirk, did not fool anyone. 

Well. She had a heart. Big deal. 

Bucky's eyes shone just as bright once he found what laid behind the fancy  _ Earth's Ultimate Team of Defenders _ wrapping paper. 

"Oh, baby," he breathed as he turned the pages that held Alexei's slightly shaky handwriting and his brightly colored, carefully crafted drawings, "did you make this?" 

Bucky looked at their son with an adoration that knew no limits and Alexei nodded with a hesitant grin. 

"Yes! And Mom almost didn't have to help me, except for the spelling 'cause I'm not too good at that and there's a lot of words, but I remembered everything!" He said all in one go and then asked, much more softly, "Do you like it?" 

Everyone was silent around them, Peter nestled between his parents as he watched the scene unfold. 

"Yes, Lex, light of my heart, come here. I don't just like it, I adore it." 

Natasha's eyes gave up on trying to hold onto her tears and when the others asked to see Alexei's book, she found she was not the only one with tears sheening in her eyes. She smiled through her tears."Guess we know what we're reading before bed tonight, right baby?" 

"Yes!" Alexei jumped a bit where he was now sitting on his Dad's lap, his socked feet resting on Natasha's thighs. 

It's only about an hour later that everyone started gathering their respective children to put them to bed in the rooms that they all thought of as theirs in Bucky's old family house. 

In Alexei’s room, the family snuggled in bed and Bucky started reading the story he'd been telling by memory alone for years. His voice waversled a little as he brushed his fingers over the letters their son had formed so painstakingly, and he went on-

> **_Where Alpine is the real hero_ **

_ "Once upon a time in merry New York City, there was a girl and there was a boy.  _

_ The boy, who his friends had always called Bucky, lived with a cat, and this cat was named Alpine. Alpine was a cunning white cat, who Bucky loved dearly even if he was always chasing after him.  _

_ Alpine and his hooman had just moved to a new building in the middle of a street named King. It was so big and had all these floors and balconies with fire escape stairways, so Alpine wandered. Once, twice, often, all the time. _

_ Bucky worked long hours at the clinic and most of the time, came home to find Alpine was gone on yet another exploration.  _

_ He would sigh and he would smile. Sometimes Bucky had to take a shower first, or eat a little snacky-snacky, or drink his millionth coffee of the day, but he always, always went to find Alpine.  _

_ The dainty-looking kitty had quickly taken to trying to make friends, a whole lot of them with one thing in common - they too, had snacky-snackies in their homes, and they didn't mind sharing them with Alpine.  _

_ This is how, and that is the why of this story, Bucky met Natasha.  _

_ Bucky had never seen a girl as beautiful as Natasha, had never talked to one either and the first thing of hers that he heard, was her laugh coming through her ajar front door. It was light, and high in tone, carefree and pulling at the little strings hanging from Bucky's big heart.  _

_ Bucky had knocked on all the usual doors, only to hear time and time again, that none of Alpine's friends had seen the cat. And so he went up a floor, and then two, and got to Natasha's. For a minute there, Bucky forgot he was looking for Alpine at all - Natasha's laugh was that pretty.  _

_ Bucky knocked on the door and tried not to peek inside. He didn't have to wait long for his life to be changed forever, right on the threshold of Apt 24F.  _

_ "Can I help you?" The girl had said, her features set in a hard façade that showed none of the lightness of her previous laughter. But Bucky knew better now.  _

_ Didn't mean he remembered how to speak properly.  _

_ Bucky shuffled a bit on his feet, and passed his hand in his hair, and tried to smile, but Natasha would tell him later - it looked an awful lot like a grimace.  _

_ "I'm looking for my cat," Bucky had said, and he saw it in her eyes, she had already met said cat. _

_ "The white one with the French Mountains for a name?"  _

_ Bucky had laughed a bit, and nodded.  _

_ "So you've seen him? He runs off all the time, I'm sorry if he's bothered you."  _

_ But the girl was smiling and Bucky was blushing just slightly under her green gaze.  _

_ "He's inside, you want to come in?" She had said that with only a slight hesitation that Bucky would soon learn was due to the fact that Natasha was only always on her own with no family or real friends, and Bucky was big, not intimidating, but enough to make her second-guess her invitation.  _

_ "I'd love that, if that's not too much trouble. I'm Bucky by the way." He'd said.  _

_ And Natasha had opened her door wider, until he could pass, and she had nodded and the words that truly changed both of their lives for the better had come out of her mouth.  _

_ "And I'm Natasha. Nice to meet you." _

By the time Bucky had said the last word, Alexei had long since stopped telling the story at the same time as him or even mouthing the words as he said them. He was sound asleep, his head falling heavily on his shoulder as he breathed softly and kept a hand on Alpine's back, the cat sleeping just as deeply. 

Bucky's face looked so peaceful, and still so touched, Natasha couldn't help the smile that formed then. 

"I still stand by those words, my sappy muzh."

Bucky didn't answer right away. He got up and rounded the bed until he was standing in front of her first. 

"C'mere princess," he whispered, waving his fingers between them. 

She took his hand and let him pull her up as they looked into each other's eyes. 

"I know you put some mistletoe somewhere in this house and I kinda like that plan. Care to lead me there before the others come back out for cards?"

Nat grinned, "whatever you say, 18D."

Thank God for Alpine. 


End file.
